Draft Permit Issued for Hazardous Waste Facility Expansion in CA

California has recently decided to try and expand their hazardous waste facility. It is one of the largest facilities for hazardous waste in the west. A draft permit has been issued in hopes to expand the facility by 5 million cubic yards.

The expansion draft was issued by The California Department of Toxic Substances Control. The hazardous waste facility and landfill is near Kettleman City which is between San Francisco and Los Angeles. There is currently over 10.7 million cubic yards of hazardous waste at the landfill. The landfill is about 1,600 acres in size.

Over the years, the idea of expanding the hazardous landfill had been snarled at by residents and environmental organizations. The landfill has gone through many occurrences where it had been fined for improper waste disposal issues. Some of the issues included small spills and improperly calibrated equipment.

The draft is awaiting approval from the toxic department. Any residents and public audience has 60 days to comment on the draft. If the draft is approved, the state of California believes that it will help eliminate some of the improper waste disposal issues. The draft also requires that sampling and testing is done to the air and groundwater at the facility. It also requires a clean truck program to reduce the emissions, as well as various other inspections and tests to be done around the hazardous landfill.

Every year, the state of California produces over 1.7 million tons of hazardous waste materials. Unfortunately, only about 600,000 tons of the hazardous matter ended up being properly disposed of at the hazardous waste landfill. As a long term goal, California is trying to reduce the volume of hazardous waste produced. They would like to reduce it by 50% by the year 2025.